Content Conundrum: The Vanity vs. Performance Dilemma

Not every piece of content you produce is great. Content can be a very subjective form of marketing. Some people like it, some don't, some care, and some don't. Every day millions of pieces on content are produced on the Web. Does every piece of content have value; does it serve a reader, author, and business purpose? No. The rise of vanity metrics often distracts content authors from the true meaning and value of publishing great content. It's the modern-day content marketing dilemma – subjective vanity versus objective performance. Vanity at a Glance The following graphical representation from Kissmetrics says it all. Pageview journalism is partly to blame for the rise in vanity-based metrics. This includes subjective, poorly researched, and biased/agenda-based vanity lists. Every day a new list is published with no real business or performance-based metric associated – ...